FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Psalm 36

1. The Futility of Sin – Continued

Please read Psalm 36:1-4 for the background to this section.

When one does not have a God to whom one is accountable, one’s mouth will be filled with “trouble and deceit.” Recently an online friend who knows I teach online sent me a link from a professional journal in which a survey was taken. In that survey of fifty-two major corporations in America, over 50 percent of the executives confessed that, if it meant their “getting ahead,” they would lie in word and deed. That is amazing and staggering! Yet I have to say this, sometimes it is no better in church, isn’t it? Professing Christians may even lie to one another. Oh yes, a Christian might consider it a “white” lie, but any lie is still abhorrent to God. So a sinful man suggests or at the least implies, “Do your own thing, and you’ll still be able to achieve your goals without God.” However, with that attitude, the deepest most satisfying goals of life will never be achieved.

Sin and rebellion will not cause it to happen. Now, this man the psalmist speaks of has deteriorated badly. Once he had apparently acted right, but no longer. Once he probably felt that God had certain claims on his life, but now he was living as though God were nowhere. He lay awake at night scheming evil. He was not suddenly overtaken with temptation, rather, he was meticulously plotting his sinful activity.

“He does not reject evil.” The word “evil” in Hebrew means “to break up that which is good.” It is close to the Hebrew equivalent to the Greek word pornē (whore) from which we derive pornography (which literally means, the writings of a whore). It demonstrates and means in essence, vulgarity, lewdness, depravity, and corruption. It seems that this man in the psalm once knew to do right, but now he lies in his bed conjuring up filth. When one goes away from God there isn’t anything one won’t do. It causes many believers to wonder how people who once professed faith in God can be caught in gross sin and still seem not to care about God.

When one listens to the voice of Satan instead of God, one will daydream and “meditate” as it were, on dirt and filth. You might be saying to yourself, “I wouldn’t, I would never do that.” However, the truth is, yes, you would if you were to ignore God. You could indeed find yourself in this man’s shoes; any of us could. This man’s persistent pursuit of evil had resulted in deceitful words and diabolical deeds. Such a lifestyle leads one down a dead-end street. If we are to yearn for a life that excels, we must understand and acknowledge that sin in any form is futile. It offers nothing deeply satisfying or enduring. How well the saints of God recognized the emptiness of sin.

“Moses . . . refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25).

Young Joseph rejected the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife, was falsely imprisoned for his stand, and yet ended up second only to Pharaoh Himself (see Genesis 39:1 to 41:47). Think also of young Daniel who “resolved that he would not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8). They were aware and acknowledged by their actions the futility of sin.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Psalm 36

1. The Futility of Sin – Continued

Please read Psalm 36:1-4 for the background to this section.

God speaks. He is to be obeyed, to be loved, and to be enshrined in our hearts. In the sinner’s life, though, the devil says, “Wickedness is to be enshrined and to be obeyed. Rebellion should dictate the pattern of life.” The wicked person has pushed God away from his life, and thus “there is no fear of God before his eyes.” That speaks of sheer arrogance toward God.

That attitude is absolutely foolish for there truly is a God, and there are biblical absolutes. These spiritual standards are true. When we disregard these standards, we will not escape the judgment springing from violating them. This man assumed that God somehow was not going to interfere with his life. That is total folly and madness. This wicked man had made his own evil desires and perverse tendencies a god in his life. Today, and very sadly most notably in America and the Western world, society as a whole has abandoned the Bible and the God of the Bible, bypassing the standards of the Word. Our world has forsaken God’s absolute principles and standards. There is something called right and something called wrong. What we are reaping in America is the payment for our infatuation with sinful man’s ideas and ideals, resulting in chaos. The moral breakdown in our day means that one out of ten of us can expect to spend time in a mental hospital according to several surveys.

People have disregarded God’s Word to the extent that we still face an AIDS epidemic of worldwide proportions. Even though we hear very little about it today, health care professionals and those who follow the trends are anticipating an ever-increasing number of cases that will still have to be treated, despite the advancements made concerning the disease. At it’s continuing rate, it will still be millions of people whose lives will be permanently altered. Man’s rebellious ideas make God seem irrelevant, and our arrogant attitude toward Him is an effort of sinful people to discover meaning and purpose. It is most definitely a seemingly frantic rat race.

The psalmist writes that those who live the life which excels understands that man’s way is futile. Sinful human concepts just don’t and will not work. The excelling life deals with attitudes, as well as with actions. The words of the wicked person are iniquity and deceit. He has left off wisdom and goodness. One translation states that he ceases to act circumspectly and to do good. He devises mischief upon his bed and lies awake at night thinking of filthy devices. He has no sense of ethics or morality.

His attitude was disruptive and futile because it did not allow for God in his life. He acted upon his sinful mind-set. A person’s attitude of independence from God will soon express itself in one’s activity. Note the text declares that his words are “trouble and deceit.” One who rejects absolute moral standards will see nothing wrong with lying. Lying in high and low places results from rebellion and irreverence toward God. People with trouble in their heart and a deceitful attitude will look you right in the eyes and lie to you.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture Reference: Psalm 36

This psalm contrasts human wickedness at its worst and divine goodness at its best, between what people claim will make them happy and what God affirms will make us happy. People strive to achieve success with the expectation that accomplishments will bestow satisfaction or meaning to their lives.

Innumerable voices are clamoring to convey their message of what it takes to attain the life that excels. What kind of life is one that excels? I sincerely and wholeheartedly believe that God wouldn’t give us a desire that wasn’t attainable. He doesn’t play games with us. I firmly believe that if God implants a yearning in our hearts to be satisfied and to experience joy, then that very fact indicates that we can achieve it.

How can one however, find the truly satisfying, fulfilling life? I believe we can discover the answer in the three major divisions of this psalm.

1. The Futility of Sin

Please read Psalm 36:1-4 for the background to this section.

First, we will discuss how this psalm asserts that the life that excels views and acknowledges the futility of a sinful life.

Those who give themselves to the life-style of Satan do so with the expectation that they will somehow have meaning. The Bible makes it plain that when disobedience and rebellion toward God become one’s norm and pattern for life, then that person has given themselves, not to satisfaction but to futility. Wickedness and transgression make a person miss the opportunity to find meaning and purpose in life. It’s a fact that what one believes will determine what one does. Whatever your creed is (and we all have a creed of one sort or another) will determine how you act.

In the first four verses of our Psalm we see that sin has convinced the man spoken of to adopt a false creed, and he has pushed God out of his life. This is seen in a couple of ways; first, in his attitude:

“Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.”

His attitude is one of rebellion and arrogance toward God.

The phrase, “Transgression speaks to the wicked,” could be translated “the oracle of transgression,” and plainly means that transgression is his god. He worships evil and sin. The original Hebrew word for “transgression” is also the normal Hebrew word for rebellion, and therein lies the picture. In the heart of the believer, God is enshrined as his authority. To him, what God says becomes his obedient act and response. But these two verses describe a man who enthroned wickedness as his authority. Rebellion had the same place that the believer grants to God. He had become convinced that God was irrelevant to his life. He thought God was not going to catch him in his sin. “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart” (Italics mine). The word “speaks” is a forceful word, and it is always employed in the Hebrew concerning the sayings of God. In the Old Testament where you read “so says the Lord,” that is the word in the original that is used here. There is a fixed contract in the believer’s mind, “so says the Lord.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved